Aseyin Gives Matching Order to Fulani Kidnappers to Refund #10M Ransome (VIDEO)

 

A traditional Ruler in Nigeria, Aseyin of Iseyinland, in Oyo State, Oba Sefiu Olawale Oyebola Adeyeri III (Ajirotutu I), has given a matching order to the Fulani community in his domains to immediately refund the ransom collected from the family and relatives of a kidnapped victim in the area.

In the message delivered by Chief Ojomu who is the representative of the Monarch, the Fulani community in Iseyin were given 15 days to refund the sum of #10 million ransom collected, make payments for the hospital bill and repair his vehicle damaged.

The kidnap kingpin must be provided to face the wrought of law.

The latest been a deadly kidnapping incident at a farm settlement along the Iseyin–Ipapo Road in Oyo State has triggered fresh security concerns, after armed kidnappers reportedly abducted four farmers, killed one of the victims and collected ₦10 million before releasing the remaining three.

The incident reportedly occurred at the Iseyin District Farm Settlement, where the attackers allegedly invaded the agricultural community, abducted four farmers and destroyed farming equipment and other property.

Livestock were also reportedly killed during the attack, while facilities within the farm settlement were vandalised.

Farmer Killed During Rescue Operation

Following the attack, a combined security team comprising personnel of the Oyo State Amotekun Corps, police and local hunters reportedly moved to confront the kidnappers.

A gun battle subsequently ensued.

Aseyin of Iseyinland

During the confrontation, one of the abducted farmers was reportedly shot dead by the kidnappers.

The remaining three victims were eventually released after their families and the farm association reportedly negotiated with the abductors and paid a total ransom of ₦10 million.

The incident has renewed concerns about the vulnerability of isolated farming settlements along parts of the Oke-Ogun axis.

Aseyin Summons Emergency Meeting

 Aseyin of Iseyin who had summoned an emergency meeting with community and Fulani leaders to address the worsening security concerns mandated the local Fulani to ensure the refund of the amount collected and repair of damaged properties as well as hospital bills settlement.

The monarch reportedly expressed concern over the presence of unidentified persons and herders entering forest areas without adequate identification or clearance.

The traditional ruler placed responsibility on local Fulani leadership to cooperate with security agencies and community authorities in identifying and reporting individuals suspected of criminal activities.

Iseyin in Oke Ogun and the surrounding areas in Oyo State have faced periodic kidnapping threats and security distruption, prompting joint security operations and heightened community alertness

A mass abduction of school children and teachers in nearby Oriire LGA of Ogbomosho zone in May 2026 caused widespread panic and temporary school closures in Iseyin and Ogbomoso. Security forces later rescued 39 schoolchildren and six teachers.

Working Theory: Why the FBI is still locking down the Tinubu files after 33 years - Mike Arnold

The FBI is fighting to keep parts of the 1990s investigative file on Bola Tinubu sealed under FOIA Exemption 7(F) — claiming release could “endanger the life or physical safety of any individual.”

Thirty-three years later. That claim only holds if something in those records is still dangerous today.

Here’s the cleanest theory that fits every known fact:

In the late 1980s–early 1990s, a Nigerian-run network was moving **high-purity Southeast Asian white heroin** (“China White”) from the Golden Triangle — primarily sourced and staged in **Bangkok, Thailand** — into Chicago and northwest Indiana.

Adegboyega Mueez Akande ran the organization. His nephew Abiodun Agbele handled U.S. distribution and sales. Lee Andrew Edwards was a major street-level customer in Gary. Tinubu’s Chicago bank accounts were frozen because investigators believed they held laundered proceeds from the same SEA white-heroin pipeline. Agbele got arrested in 1990 selling to an undercover agent and cooperated. Tinubu was interviewed by phone, made partial admissions about knowing the players and moving money, later contradicted himself, fought the civil case, and settled in 1993 by forfeiting $460,000 with no criminal charges.

The working theory is that Tinubu provided information during that process — enough to walk away without an indictment. The records of that cooperation (or the identities it protected) remain in the file.

That is why the Bureau is still invoking a life-safety risk in 2026.

Look at what happened next. In 1995–1996 the U.S. launched **Operation Global Sea**, the first major effort that took down an entire Nigerian SEA-heroin chain from Bangkok source to Chicago streets. It targeted a sophisticated syndicate based in Bangkok that had been moving hundreds of kilograms of the same high-purity white heroin into the Midwest via Europe, Guatemala, and Mexico. Dozens were arrested in Bangkok, Chicago, New York, Detroit, and Pakistan. The Bangkok-based leader, Musiliu Balogun (aka “Olopa” / “The Policeman”), was charged as a primary supplier from Thailand/Cambodia. He stayed a fugitive until 2006, was extradited, and was sentenced in Chicago in 2013 to nine years.

Other follow-on operations (including elements later rolled into Shadow Towers) kept hitting Nigerian groups still importing SEA white heroin from Bangkok into Chicago and other cities.

Most of the original 1988–1993 players are now dead or neutralized: Akande died in 2024, Edwards years earlier. Balogun served his time and is no longer an active kingpin. But the broader Nigerian transnational networks that controlled the Bangkok-to-Chicago SEA white-heroin pipeline never fully disappeared. Residual associates, family members, or successor cells in Thailand and West Africa still operate in the drug trade. Identifying who cooperated in the original Chicago case — or revealing the exact techniques and sources used against the Bangkok suppliers — could still put people at real risk of retaliation.

That is the only explanation that makes the 33-year “endanger lives” claim coherent. The files are not being blocked over ancient bank records. They are being blocked because someone in them was protected, the protection still matters, and the Southeast Asian white-heroin networks that fed Chicago in the 1990s left behind people and structures with lasting lethal potential.

The public record is silent for a reason. The FOIA fight is the government’s way of keeping it that way.

#EarthShaker

UNIOSUN Lecturer Iyanuoluwa Adufe Wins ACDI Grant for Antimicrobial Stewardship Study

Dr Adufe

A lecturer in the Department of Public Health, Osun State University (UNIOSUN), Dr Iyanuoluwa Adufe, has won a research grant from the African Centre for Development Impact (ACDI) under its 2026 Research Grant Competition.

Dr Adufe’s research proposal, titled “The BRIDGE Trial: A Pilot Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial of a Co-Created One Health Behavioural Intervention to Improve Antimicrobial Stewardship in Nigeria,” was selected for funding following a highly competitive review process involving local and international experts.

In a statement issued by the University’s Public Relations Officer, Ademola Adesoji, the grant was made possible through the generous support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and is intended to support a high-quality, policy-relevant impact evaluation that will generate evidence to strengthen policymaking and development practice in Africa.

The project, which will run from August 17, 2026, to July 31, 2027, is expected to generate evidence that will contribute to improved antimicrobial stewardship in Nigeria while strengthening collaboration between researchers and policymakers.

According to the award letter signed by the Executive Director of ACDI, Professor Charles Teye Amoatey, Dr Adufe’s project is expected to contribute to the growing body of rigorous, policy-relevant research required to promote evidence-informed decision-making across Africa. The organisation also indicated that the researcher would join its network of African researchers committed to generating evidence for improved development practice and public policy.

As part of the grant requirements, Dr Adufe and her research team are expected to provide quarterly progress updates and a final technical and financial report. The research is also expected to result in at least one scholarly publication, while its findings will be presented to relevant decision-makers at a dedicated dissemination forum.

Reacting to the achievement, the Vice-Chancellor of Osun State University, Professor Odunayo Clement Adebooye, congratulated Dr Adufe, describing the grant as another demonstration of the quality of research being undertaken by academics at the University.

Professor Adebooye said the achievement underscored the University’s commitment to promoting research that addresses pressing societal challenges and generates practical solutions capable of influencing policy and improving the lives of citizens.

He noted that the success further strengthened UNIOSUN’s growing profile as a research-driven institution whose academics are successfully competing for prestigious research grants and contributing to critical national and continental discourse.

The Vice-Chancellor commended Dr Adufe for her research excellence and urged other members of the University community to pursue innovative, interdisciplinary and impact-driven research capable of attracting international funding and contributing meaningfully to sustainable development.

The latest grant adds to UNIOSUN’s growing record of research achievements and externally funded projects, further reinforcing the institution’s commitment to research excellence, innovation, evidence-based policymaking and global academic engagement.

Osun 2026 Election: The Demystification of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola

Ogbeni Aregbesola 

Former Governor. Former Minister. Former Commissioner. Former best friend & confidant of President BAT GCFR. And now, a full-time opposition member of the ADC, a staunch political opponent of the APC  & everything it represents & also Governor Adeleke too.

But politics, ultimately, is not about titles, history, proximity or mythology. Politics is about numbers. And when the numbers come, they have a rather unforgiving way of stripping away the mystique.

If there is one thing the recent governorship election in Osun State has exposed, it is the uncomfortable truth about the supposed political weight of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the former Commissioner for Works in Lagos, 2-term Governor of Osun State & former Minister of Interior under the APC-led administration of PMB.

For years, Aregbesola has been spoken of, & has spoken of himself, as one of the formidable political forces in Osun &, by extension, one of the major political players in the Southwest. But the ballot box has now had its say.

And from what the ballot box has told us, Ogbeni Rauf may have been a political heavyweight in the imagination of many, but the evidence before us suggests something considerably less imposing: a paperweight or in fact, a no weight at all! Chai!!! 

That is not an insult. It is an electoral diagnosis. And the numbers are there for everyone to interrogate. So, how did the great political machine perform? Consider this.

Aregbesola is not some newcomer to Osun politics. He governed the state for 8 years. He was once regarded as one of the strongest political figures in the state. He was a major political ally of President Tinubu. He has a reputation for having a formidable support base, particularly within the Ijesa axis of the state, where he hails from.

He has now thrown his considerable political reputation behind the African Democratic Congress, ADC.

And for this election, the party’s candidate was no political lightweight either. Rt. Hon. Najeem Folasayo Salaam, former Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly & a former member of the House of Representatives, was the ADC candidate.

If Aregbesola's much-advertised political weight is as substantial as it has been projected, this should have been the moment to demonstrate it.

Instead, Salaam finished a distant third with a paltry 17,180 votes.

The Accord Party's Senator Ademola Adeleke (incumbent Governor, won with 511,067 votes, while the APC's Bola Oyebamiji came 2nd with 444,815 votes. The winning margin was therefore a staggering 66,252 votes.

That is not a minor electoral gap. That is an electoral canyon. And it becomes even more revealing when one begins to dissect where these votes actually came from.

The Ijesa question

Aregbesola is an Ijesa man. The Ijesa bloc is therefore one of the natural places where one would expect his political influence to be most visible. But what happened?

In the 6 local government areas that make up the major Ijesa concentration, Ilesa East, Ilesa West, Obokun, Oriade, Atakunmosa East & Atakunmosa West, the numbers tell a story that is difficult to explain away. Accord Party: 77,193 votes. APC: 79,920 votes. ADC: 2,351 votes.

Let that sink in.

In the very political territory from which one of the supposed Southwest's most prominent ADC figures hails, the ADC could only muster 2,351 votes across 6 local governments hmmmmm... 

Two thousand, three hundred & fifty-one.

For a political structure that has been portrayed as formidable, that number is not merely disappointing. It is devastatingly revealing. And it gets even more interesting.

Even Aregbesola's own Ilesa political territory did not exactly rise to the occasion for the ADC.

At his own polling unit in Ilesa, the reported figures were APC 256, Accord 43 and ADC 13. Thirteen.

Sometimes, politics does not need a long speech to make its point. A ballot paper can say it in three numbers.

And then came Ejigbo

The ADC candidate, Najeem Salaam, is from Ejigbo LG. Surely, if anywhere was going to be an ADC fortress, this should have been it. Yet Ejigbo Local Government gave Salaam only 5,053 votes.

Accord Party received 18,458.

APC received 16,195.

In other words, both of the 2 leading parties comfortably defeated the ADC in the very local government from which its candidate hails.

The supposed fortress was breached from within. And that is precisely why the result becomes bigger than Najeem Salaam.

It raises a much more fundamental question about the political structure supposedly standing behind him.

Because candidates do not manufacture 17,180 votes out of thin air. They are the product of structures, personalities, mobilisation, loyalty & political influence.

And when all of those are put to the test, the ballot box tells us what actually exists, not what has been said to exist.

Adeleke's Ede fortress

Now look at the other side of the equation.

Governor Ademola Adeleke did not merely win Osun. He demonstrated the power of his own political base.

In Ede North which is his paternal base, the Governor polled 35,427 votes. In Ede South, he polled another 26,188.

That gives him a combined 61,615 votes from the 2 Ede local governments alone.

The APC managed 10,283 in Ede North & 6,219 in Ede South, a combined 16,502. That's a margin of 46,113. It's so obvious where the votes which propelled him to victory came from then. 

ADC? Just 697. The contrast is almost brutal.

Adeleke's Ede delivered. Aregbesola's ADC did not.

And perhaps this is one of the most important lessons of this election: Political mythology may create headlines, but political structures produce votes.

Then came Ife

The APC's reconciliation with Senator Iyiola Omisore was another major political calculation in this election. But did it produce the expected electoral dividend?

The results suggest otherwise.

In the 4 Ife local governments, Accord won 3.

Ife North: Accord 13,879; APC 9,613.

Ife Central: Accord 21,171; APC 15,913.

Ife East: Accord 27,201; APC 18,600.

In Ife South, APC narrowly prevailed with 14,678, against Accord's 13,507. By just an inconsequential 1,171 votes which didn't count for much in the overall.

Overall, Accord polled 75,758 votes across the 4 Ife local governments, while APC managed 58,804.

ADC? A mere 2,305 votes. Again, the numbers refuse to cooperate with the mythology.

Then came Irewole

Bola Oyebamiji, the APC candidate, demonstrated that political candidates can also have formidable local structures.

In his Irewole Local Government, he polled 29,972 votes, against Accord's 10,934.

ADC?v275 votes.

Two hundred & seventy-five. The numbers keep speaking. And they are becoming increasingly difficult to silence.

The Senatorial Districts tell an even bigger story

Perhaps the most compelling way to examine this election is not merely through individual local governments but through the 3 senatorial districts in the state.

Osun has 3 senatorial districts, each comprising 10 local governments.

And Accord Party won all 3 senatorial districts. In Osun Central, Accord polled 169,164 votes, against APC's 162,094 and ADC's 4,472.

In Osun East, Accord polled 152,951, against APC's 138,724 & ADC's 4,656.

In Osun West, Accord polled a remarkable 188,952, against APC's 143,997 & ADC's 8,052.

Again, look closely at that last figure.

The biggest margin of victory came from Osun West, the same senatorial district from which the 3 major contestants emerged. And Adeleke did not merely win there. He danced home. He actually breakdanced! Chai!!! 

The aggregate numbers across the 3 senatorial districts tell the story even more forcefully:

Accord: 511,067

APC: 444,815

ADC: 17,180

There is almost something poetic about the disparity.

The ADC, with all the political noise & pedigree surrounding it in Osun, could not even get to twenty thousand votes in an election where the 2 leading parties were battling in the hundreds of thousands.

So, what exactly has Osun 2026 demystified? It has not demystified Rauf Aregbesola as a man. It has not erased his history.

It has not taken away the fact that he was a 2-term Governor. It has not erased his years as a major political figure in Lagos or his tenure as Minister of Interior.

And certainly, it does not erase his former proximity to President Tinubu.

But it has done something more important. It has subjected the mythology of his current political influence to the coldest & most objective test available in politics: the ballot box. And the ballot box has returned a rather humbling verdict.

Perhaps Ogbeni Rauf is not the political heavyweight many imagined him to be.

Perhaps his political influence today is considerably smaller than his reputation.

Perhaps he has mistaken historical relevance for contemporary electoral strength.

Or perhaps, more simply, he has overestimated the number of people who are still willing to follow him politically.

Whatever the explanation, Osun 2026 has provided the 1st hard empirical evidence with which the question can be seriously examined.

And the evidence is not flattering. But there is an even bigger question. What does all of this mean for 2027?

That is where this becomes considerably more interesting.

Can the ADC, under Aregbesola's leadership, suddenly transform 17,180 votes in Osun into a meaningful presidential-election structure across the Southwest?

Can a party that could only manage 2,351 votes across the 6 major Ijesa LGAs suddenly become a serious electoral force?

Can a former Speaker from his own political camp poll only 5,053 votes in his own Ejigbo, while Accord polled 18,458 & APC 16,195, & still claim a formidable grassroots machine?

These are not questions of sentiment. They are questions of arithmetic. And politics, especially electoral politics, has a brutal relationship with arithmetic.

But there is another intriguing dimension.

Governor Ademola Adeleke has publicly demonstrated support & cordiality towards President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.

Yet in Osun, he has now defeated the APC candidate by a whopping 66,252 votes.

That tells us something important about Nigerian politics.

Local political allegiance & presidential political allegiance do not always travel together.

A politician can oppose the APC at the state level & still maintain a working relationship with the President at the federal level.

Adeleke's Osun victory therefore should not automatically be interpreted as a presidential referendum on Tinubu.

Neither should it be dismissed as irrelevant to 2027.

Rather, it raises a much more fascinating question: If Ademola Adeleke can command 511,067 votes in Osun while maintaining a publicly cordial relationship with President Tinubu, what happens when the presidential contest arrives?

And perhaps even more importantly: Where will the political energy that currently belongs to Adeleke's formidable Osun structure ultimately flow?

That is the question the political class should be asking.

Not merely who won Osun. Not merely who lost.

But what the numbers have revealed about who actually commands people, structures & loyalty when the rubber meets the road.

Because Nigerian politics has always had its legends. Its godfathers. Its kingmakers. Its strongmen. Its political juggernauts.

And, sometimes, its carefully cultivated myths.

But every 4 years, the ballot box comes along to ask one brutally simple question:

“Show me your followers.” In Osun 2026, the ballot box asked Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola that question.

And, at least from the numbers before us, the answer was surprisingly small.

Very, very small. That may well be the real story of Osun 2026.

Not simply the victory of Ademola Adeleke. Not simply the defeat of Bola Oyebamiji aka AMBO.

Not simply the spectacular underperformance of Najeem Salaam.

But the demystification of Ogbeni Rauf. The legend has met the numbers. And the numbers, as they say, do not lie.

Abiola Olatunde Aloba,

Ijesa by paternal blood. 

Ijebu Ode blue blood by maternal connection. 

Osun’s 2026 verdict and what it means for Nigeria’s opposition

BITTER PILLS; THRILLING RECOVERY, DRIZZLING PERFORMANCE

Politics in Nigeria rarely comes without bitterness. In Osun State, the August 15, 2026 governorship election served another dose.

Governor Ademola Adeleke has emerged victorious, weathering what his camp described as political intimidation and the weight of federal might deployed against him. It is a win that feels less like a stroll and more like a trek through thorns — hence the _bitter pills_. But the recovery has been thrilling, and the performance, though uneven in places, has been drizzling steadily enough to convince voters to grant him a second term. 

The Battle Against the Odds

Adeleke’s re-election bid was never framed as business as usual. Running this time on the platform of the Accord Party, after leaving the PDP amid national crisis, he faced the APC’s Bola Oyebamiji and ADC’s Dr. Najeem Salaam in what observers called another highly competitive contest. 

In the run-up, Adeleke himself alleged killings of party members and called on President Bola Tinubu to direct the police to act professionally and impartially. He described 2025 as “a challenging year due to external constraints” and warned against “beating drums of war” ahead of the poll. 

Yet the governor leaned on what he called people-centred governance and visible projects across the state. His campaign council, inaugurated in Osogbo, promised grassroots mobilisation “at the wards and local government level”. The message was simple: performance over propaganda, calculated inauguration of projects in virtually all constituencies to force out his admirers and non admirers particularly amongst the traditional rulers to a reelection campaign laced with an appealing projects

“If this election is free and fair, I will win,” Adeleke said on the campaign trail. With less than 15 days to go, he declared “NO SHAKING, Imole is coming back”. Analysts also noted his long-standing relationship with civil servants, artisans and trade groups as assets. 

Labour Party: The Missed Opportunity

While Adeleke was consolidating, the Labour Party was bleeding internally as a blissful opportunity were being lost in the process

The 2023 and 2024 political realignments created an opening. Several disrupted and evicted incumbent Governors of the PDP, frustrated by internal wrangling at the national level, looked for new platforms. Labour Party, with its post-2023 momentum, should have been the natural refuge. Instead, internal squabbles, factionalism, and lack of structure turned it into a waiting room with no exit.

The result: most of those PDP governors and heavyweights either returned to mend fences, moved to APC, or sat out. Labour Party failed to harvest them. What could have been a national expansion became a period of self-inflicted losses.

In Osun, that void mattered. Without a credible third-force structure, the contest narrowed to Accord, APC and ADC. Labour’s absence meant there was no serious alternative to absorb protest votes or disgruntled PDP structures. Adeleke would have preferred Labour Party at the time he was shopping for a platform and ultimately have added immensely to our structure, unfortunately the harvest slipped out.

Drizzling Performance, Thrilling Recovery

Adeleke’s first term was defined by infrastructure, welfare programs, and a deliberate effort to be seen and felt in the grassroots. Critics argued about concentration of projects around Ede, but supporters point to the “difference that purposeful, people-centred governance can make”. 

He nearly became a politically stagnated orphan at a period in time, it was rumoured that powers that be denied him an appointment for a meeting but communicated him through a first class Yoruba king that he should go and join the ruling party, every attempt made by him to compromise was negated by Baba Kukuru, Esu lehin APC who loudly drum it to his ears that he will have to queue as the ticket will not be offered to him, that's a bitter pill to swallow. He encouraged himself further his search for another platform and landed in ACCORD PARTY, accordingly he became a man to celebrate today.

The recovery is thrilling because it came after 2022, when Adeleke defeated an incumbent with federal backing. To do it again in 2026, this time outside PDP, suggests a personal brand that transcends party lines. If re-elected, he would become only the second governor in Osun’s history to secure a second term. 

But the performance is still “drizzling” — steady, but not yet a downpour. Expectations on jobs, security, and inclusive development remain high, especially with rising insecurity flagged as a factor in 2026. 

*Time to Rethink and Recover Lost Ground*

Two lessons stand out.

1. For incumbents: People will reward delivery, even under pressure. Adeleke’s confidence came from pointing to tangible records, not just party structure. “_This team is heading to victory_,” he told his campaign council.

2. For the opposition: Labour Party’s failure to organize and accommodate displaced political forces was costly. The window to rethink is now. Without internal discipline, ideology, and structure, it risks remaining a movement of moments rather than a party of government. Many see the party as a transactional platform as many who did not toil in the party had managed to position themselves and political stooges in positions of power, ready for harvest in most states. Should this trend continue, we shall suffer existential threats and consequences 

Osun 2026 reminds us that Nigerian voters are watching. They will swallow bitter pills if the recovery feels real. They will ignore loud noise if the performance is only drizzling.

The question now is not just who won Osun. It is whether other parties — especially our own Labour Party — will learn fast enough to recover the grounds they lost, recreate a bigger platform for ideological opposition and alternatives before 2027 comes calling.

© Apagun Olaolu Samuel 

Chairman, Labour Party Ogun State 

egberunsaamu2206@gmail.com

OSUN GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION: LET THE PEOPLE’S MANDATE STAND

Osun voters have spoken; INEC must resist every attempt to manipulate the outcome

Mẹkunnu Kọya,

Osogbo, The Mẹkunnu Kọya movement has commended the largely peaceful conduct of Osun voters during today’s governorship election, despite isolated reports of intimidation, violence, vote-buying and other electoral infractions.

The movement noted that incidents including the reported forceful dispersal of voters, alleged carting away of ballot papers, the attack in Ejigbo, the reported assault on the ADC governorship candidate and the alleged intimidation of Alhaja Sekinat Temilade, an aide to Governor Ademola Adeleke, did not deter the people from exercising their democratic rights.

Mẹkunnu Kọya observed that Osun voters had demonstrated remarkable courage and determination, particularly in the face of reported vote-buying ranging from ₦20,000 to ₦50,000 in some areas.

The movement, however, warned that the relative peace maintained during voting must not be destroyed at the collation stage through manipulation of the electoral process.

It expressed concern over reports that some duly accredited party agents and returning officers were allegedly prevented from accessing collation centres, stressing that such actions could create unnecessary tension and suspicion.

Mẹkunnu Kọya therefore strongly condemned any attempt to manufacture an inconclusive election as a political strategy to alter the outcome or impose an unpopular candidate rejected by the electorate.

The movement called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to resist every form of political pressure and complete the collation and declaration process transparently, impartially and in accordance with the law.

It stressed that there must be “no midnight abracadabra, no manufactured inconclusiveness, no selective cancellation of results and no manipulation designed to favour an anointed candidate.”

Mẹkunnu Kọya also appealed to security agencies, political parties and all electoral stakeholders to exercise restraint and responsibility, while urging Osun voters to remain peaceful but vigilant until the final result is declared.

The movement emphasized that voters must protect their mandate through lawful and democratic means, declaring: “Osun voters have spoken with their votes. Let their votes be counted. Let their votes be heard. Let their mandate stand.”

According to Mẹkunnu Kọya, Osun people know whom they voted for, while Nigerians and the international community are watching the collation and declaration process.

It warned that any declaration that fails to reflect the genuine mandate expressed at the polling units would further undermine public confidence in Nigeria’s democratic process and should be challenged through all lawful democratic means.

The movement concluded with a direct appeal to INEC: “INEC must not disappoint the people of Osun. The electoral umpire must allow the people’s will, not political pressure, to determine the outcome of this election.”

OSUN HAS SPOKEN. LET THE PEOPLE’S VOICE BE RESPECTED.

Mẹkunnu Kọya Blog

15 August 2026

#OsunDecide: Mẹkunnu Kọya Raises Alarm Over Intimidation, Vote-Buying in Osogbo

Osogbo, August 15, 2026

The Mẹkunnu Kọya movement has raised the alarm over alleged voter intimidation, vote-buying and illegal voting in parts of Osogbo and Olorunda as the Osun governorship election continues.

Reports reaching the movement indicate that individuals are moving around with registers of names written in exercise books, allegedly as part of a new method of coordinating vote-buying. One of the reported locations is Polling Unit 025, Ataoja E, Registration Area Code EC30(A).

There are also reports that suspected political thugs have chased away voters believed to be supporters of the ADC and Accord parties at Ward 5, Unit 20, Freedom Park, as well as around Central Mosque, Kaka Isale Aro, Osogbo.

Mẹkunnu Kọya said similar incidents are being reported across several wards in Osogbo and Olorunda, with allegations that some known and unknown security operatives are either conniving with the perpetrators or failing to prevent the intimidation.

The movement also alleged that political mercenaries imported from neighbouring states are being deployed around polling units, with some allegedly using codes to gain access to voting despite not being legitimate voters. It further alleged that opposition party agents attempting to challenge such irregularities are being intimidated or driven away.

According to Mẹkunnu Kọya, the unfolding developments reinforce its earlier warning that the electoral process could be manipulated to produce a predetermined outcome in favour of a particular candidate.

The movement has called on INEC, security agencies, accredited observers and all stakeholders to act immediately to protect voters, enforce the electoral rules and prevent illegal voting and intimidation.

Mẹkunnu Kọya insists that the people of Osun must be allowed to freely exercise their franchise and that the final result must reflect the genuine will of the electorate.

PRESS STATEMENT — STOP THE BLOODSHED: NIGERIAN STUDENTS ARE UNDER SIEGE, WE DEMAND IMMEDIATE ACTION TO SECURE OUR CAMPUSES, HOSTELS — CSYR

CAMPAIGN FOR STUDENTS’ AND YOUTH’S RIGHTS (CSYR)

The Campaign for Students and Youth Rights (CSYR) is alarmed and outraged by the wave of armed robbery and kidnapping attacks that have swept through Nigerian tertiary institutions in recent weeks, most recently at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, and the Federal University of Lafia (FULAFIA), Nasarawa State.

These are not isolated incidents. They are the latest chapters in a long, painful pattern of insecurity that Nigerian students and working people have been forced to endure for years, with little sign that the institutions and authorities responsible for their protection are treating the crisis with the urgency it demands.

At about 2:00 a.m., it was reported that armed men carrying machetes and knives invaded the female hostel at ATBU's Gubi Campus, forcing entry into more than ten rooms. Students were terrorised in their own beds, and over fifty mobile phones and other valuables were stolen. This is not the first time such an attack has occurred at ATBU, as students report that similar incidents have recurred over the years without lasting solutions.

In Lafia, three female 100-level students of FULAFIA were reportedly abducted from their off-campus lodge on a Saturday night, weeks after a separate incident in which five students were kidnapped and only one was reportedly rescued. With examinations approaching, students are left to study under the weight of fear rather than focus on their education.

CSYR holds that no student anywhere in Nigeria should have to choose between pursuing an education and staying alive. A university hostel is meant to be a place of rest and safety, not a hunting ground for armed criminals. The recurrence of these attacks, at ATBU and elsewhere, is proof that promises of "improved security" without accountability and sustained investment mean nothing to the students living through the terror.

We reject the normalization of this violence. We reject the silence that often follows these incidents once the news cycle moves on. Students are not statistics; they are human beings with families, dreams, and a right to safety guaranteed to them as citizens.

CSYR calls on university managements, state governments, and federal security agencies to immediately and visibly deploy adequate security personnel to all hostels and lodges, on campus and in student-populated communities off campus, with round-the-clock patrols, particularly during high-risk night hours.

We call on the Students’ Union Government (SUG) of the institutions to call congress of students to immediately address this situation and create an independent security committee of the union.

The CSYR call on the FG, State governments of the affected schools, and security personnel to secure the unconditional and safe release of the FULAFIA students, including those in Borno and elsewhere currently in captivity, and provide regular, transparent updates to their families and the student body on the efforts being made.

There is an urgent need to establish functional perimeter security at all hostels. There should be proper fencing, adequate lighting, CCTV coverage, and controlled access points, backed by real maintenance and monitoring, and not just paper policy.

An independent, transparent investigation into the ATBU hostel invasion and the FULAFIA abductions must be conducted, and the findings and remedial actions made public.

Functional, well-publicized emergency response channels such as accessible hotlines and rapid-response units that students can reach instantly during a crisis, with a demonstrated commitment to response time, must be established.

There should be provision of psychosocial support to survivors and witnesses of these attacks, recognizing the trauma inflicted extends beyond the material losses suffered.

Regular joint security briefings involving the student leadership, university management, local security agencies, and representatives from the host communities should be held, so that safety planning is not carried out in isolation from the people it is meant to protect.

CSYR stands in full solidarity with the students of ATBU's Gubi Campus and FULAFIA, and with every Nigerian student who has ever had to sleep in fear on the campus that was supposed to be their second home. We commend the courage of students who have continued to speak out, organize, and demand better treatment and protection, even in the face of trauma.

We call on NANS, NUNS, students' related bodies, left and progressive organisations, and civil society to join in this fight for a free and safe environment for students, staff, informal workers and the university community at large. An injury to one is an injury to all. The call for the collective protection of students' and working people's lives across Nigeria is our duty.

We will not relent until Nigerian campuses are made genuinely safe for the young people who fill them. Students came to learn and not to fight for their lives.

Signed by:

Campaign for Students’ and Youth’s Rights (CSYR)

Bestman Michael

National Coordinator

Admissions Are In Progress @A1 Premier Model Academy LTD, Osogbo

 Admissions into various classes are progress at A1 Premier Model Academy LTD, Osogbo, Osun State.

Classes are: Day Care, Play group, Beginner class, Nursery, Primary and College.

Address: KM4 Gbongan/Ibadan Road, Opposite Old FRSC Office, Ogo-Oluwa Area, Osogbo, Osun State.

Tel.: 07084463719 , E-mail:  a1premierltd@gmail.com 

@A1 Premier Model Academy LTD, Excellent is Our Choice!!!

We care like parents!!!

Our School fees are affordable for all.

Oriire school children Abduction: Why Governor Seyi Makinde Inaugurates a Judicial Commission of Inquiry

The Governor f Oyo State Engr. Seyi Makinde on Friday inaugurated a judicial panel of inquiry into the Oriire school children and teachers abduction.

Today, we inaugurated a Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Oriire Abduction. As I said in my remarks during the inauguration, the assignment of this Commission is to establish the facts, identify any institutional or operational lapses, recommend measures that will strengthen the protection of our schools and communities, and help ensure that such a tragedy never happens again.




44 teachers and children kidnapped in three schools in Yawota and Ahoro-Esinele in Oriire LGA were released on July 10 after 56 days in captivity of the bandit terrorists.

Seyi Makinde while speaking in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, at the inauguration of an 8-man Judicial Conmission of Inquiry into the Abduction, affirmed that accountability and reform restore public confidence and help prevent a recurrence.

"Let me again appreciate the distinguished men and women who have agreed to serve on this Commission and wish them wisdom and success on this important assignment."

The Eight members committee include:

•⁠ ⁠Hon Justice M. A. O. Owoade, JCA (Retd) – Chairman

•⁠ ⁠Prof Jibrin Ibrahim

•⁠ ⁠Mrs Ayo Obe

•⁠ ⁠AIG Ngozi Onadeko (Retd)

•⁠ ⁠Barr. Abimbola Orogade

•⁠ ⁠Maj. Gen. S. N. Muazu (Retd)

•⁠ ⁠Mr Folorinsho Osunrayi (Director DSS – Retd)

The Secretary of this Commission of Inquiry is Barr (Mrs) Olamide Sandra Tella.



According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Makinde emphasis that the call was about “ensuring that every lesson is learnt, and every question that deserves an answer is answered.”


“So it was for this reason that I called on the international community to support an independent examination of the circumstances surrounding the incident,” he said.


Mr Makinde added that the government’s duty did not end with the victims’ rescue, “though rescue brings relief, truth brings closure.”


“This judicial commission of inquiry represents our commitment to that responsibility,” he said.

The governor explained that the commission’s assignment was to establish the facts, identify any institutional or operational lapses, and recommend measures that will strengthen the protection of schools and communities.


“And help to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again,” he said.


Mr Makinde had called on the United Nations and other international human rights and accountability bodies to examine the circumstances surrounding the abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area.


He said while the victims had regained their freedom, the circumstances surrounding the incident were “sufficiently grave and unusual” to warrant an independent review.


Mr Makinde said the incident raised questions that require independent scrutiny beyond Nigeria’s domestic institutions.

He made the call in a statewide broadcast hours after the Nigerian military formally handed over the rescued pupils and teachers to the state government following their release after 56 days in captivity.


The Oyo State House of Assembly threw its weight behind Mr Makinde’s call for the independent international investigation into the abduction.


However, the Nigerian Senate rejected the governor’s request for foreign intervention in the matter, arguing that the incident was a domestic security matter that should be handled within Nigeria.

At the inaguration of the judicial commission of inquiry on the abduction on Friday, Mr Makinde charged all members of the commission to bring their decades of experience, integrity, and public service to bear on the assignment before them.


He also advised them to let their work “be guided only by the evidence, the law, and the public interest.


“The people of our state, and indeed Nigerians, expect nothing less than an impartial, credible process,” he said.


The governor, who gave the commission four weeks to complete the assignment, urged members to feel free to come back to him if they require additional time to ensure that “no stone is left unturned.”


He promised to provide every support required for the commission to carry out its assignment independently and professionally.


Mr Makinde also called on individuals, institutions, and relevant agencies to cooperate fully by making available any information that would assist the commission in arriving at the truth.


Speaking with journalists shortly after the inauguration, the commission’s chairman, retired Justice Mojeed Owoade, pledged that the commission would carry out the assignment with all sense of responsibility.


Mr Owoade added that transparency and diligence to uncover the truth would be the commission’s watchwords.



In a country where insecurity is ravaging inform of Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen, banditry and kidnapping gangs making lives and properties of the citizens unsecured with the State apparatus in terms of both political and security operatives remained deliberately ineffective, Oyo State Governor is doing the right thing.

What do you think?

Photos from the event :

7

The Movement Nigeria (TMN): Indifference To Politics And Governance Does Not Shield Anyone From Its Consequences

An axiomatic truth of human existence is that, indifference to politics and governance does not shield anyone from its consequences.

 Governments make decisions about taxes, education, employment, housing, security and war, healthcare, civil liberties, and public services whether citizens pay attention or not.

Politics shapes the conditions under which people work, study, travel, speak, and live their everyday lives.

 Therefore, refusing to engage with politics does not mean escaping it; it simply means leaving decisions that matter most about our life and society in the hands of others.

 Politics may be ignored, but it cannot be avoided because it is the threshold of prosperity or poverty.

Therefore, political participation is a key to limitless opportunities in life! Either for good governance, connectivities, wright the wrong, justice, fairness and equity, etcetera politics is the key.

The Movement Nigeria (TMN) is mobilizing to the very grassroots if the country for an assured sociopolitical and economic future via maximum participation in politics and maximum support for good governance.

Join TMN today 

Arc Dr Peter Agada is the Global Convener 

TERRORISM: Niger Governor Sacks All Fulani District Heads, Replaces with Indigenous Nupe Chiefs

Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago has sacked all Fulani district heads, known as Ardos, replacing them with indigenous Nupe Chiefs in a historic move aimed at curbing kidnapping, violence, and terrorism. The decision effectively ends centuries of Fulani domination over indigenous people in the state, marking a significant shift in the region's political and traditional landscape.

The governor cited the rising cases of kidnapping, land grabbing, destruction of farmlands, and the invitation by local Fulani of other Fulani from outside the country to help them in sustained conflicts with indigenous people as reasons for the decision. He has replaced them with village chiefs or re-designated roles such as Hakimi to strengthen local indigenous authority and improve security in the state.

My History & Antecedent In Nigerian Politics — YPP Presidential Aspirant Dr Peter Agada (VIDEO)

 

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTROL: SERAP Asks National Assembly To Reject And Withdrawal the Nigeria Data Protection Amendment Bill

A Human Rights Organization in Nigeria, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on the Nigeria's National Assembly to immediately reject and withdraw the Nigeria Data Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2026

According to SERAP, the Bill is a backdoor attempt to regulate social media and expand governmental control over online expression, which is incompatible with international human rights standards.




APC leadership which rode to power with effective use of social media platforms in 2015 has been struggling endlessly since Major Gen. Muhammad Buahri days to subjugate and control the Social Media and how people use them in the country. Nigerians were banned from using Twitter now X under the anti people Leadership of buhari. Bola Tinubu has continue in his steady, inflicting more harsh economic policies on the masses yet want to control the Social Media through a backdoor bill.




SERAP: "We've urged the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas to immediately reject and withdraw the Nigeria Data Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2026, as the Bill is a backdoor attempt to regulate social media and expand governmental control over online expression, which is incompatible with international human rights standards."




"The Bill, sponsored by Senator Ned Nwoko (APC, Delta North), seeks to compel social media platforms, data controllers and data processors operating in Nigeria to establish physical offices in the country, and empowers the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) to shut down or prohibit the operations of any entity that fails to comply within 30 days."




SERAP argued that requirements compelling technology companies to establish local offices would increase government leverage over platforms, facilitate political pressure, make censorship demands easier and expose local employees to retaliation."




"The Bill would create sweeping powers capable of shutting down or excluding social media platforms from the Nigerian market and expose millions of Nigerians to serious violations of their constitutionally and internationally guaranteed human rights.




"The Bill follows earlier attempts by the National Assembly to regulate social media that generated widespread public opposition and serious human rights concerns."




"The current Bill revives substantially similar proposals previously introduced by Senator Nwoko, raising renewed concerns that localisation requirements are being used as a vehicle for expanding governmental control over digital platforms and online expression."




Should the Bill be enacted into law in its current or substantially similar form, SERAP shall promptly take all appropriate legal actions to challenge its legality in the public interest and to ensure that Nigerians’ fundamental rights are fully protected.

OTUKPO & MIDDLE BELT MASSACRES: RESTORE NIGERIA FROM REPUBLIC OF BLOODSHED TO LAW & ORDER - Arc. Dr. Peter Agada To Bola Tinubu

Arc. Dr Peter Agada 

"President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's administration must stop being a government of funeral delegations, ephemeral consolation of genocide victims and empty ceremonial promises of security, and rise to restore Nigeria from being a republic of bloodshed which it is now to one of law, order, peace, opportunity and prosperity.*_

"Mr. President must re-event his administration into a digital age security machine. One that has the cutting-edge capabilities to bring to book culprits and erase all roving militia murderers, killer herdsmen, ransom bandits, bloodthirsty terrorists and their urban networks who aid them in any corner of Nigeria.*_

"Nigeria has more than enough resources to achieve this from what is connived, cornered and stolen in only a few government agencies or parastatals and her annual budgets. What is lacking is the political will, sincerity and transparency of the executors of security policies."

Several reasons constrained me from immediate reaction to the latest episode of cold-blooded, wanton massacre of citizens of Akpachi and Otukpo-Nobi in Otukpo local government area of Benue state.

Following the horrific bloodbath which took place at the dawn of last Sunday, July 12, 2026, it was needful to endure these extra days in order to obtain reliable confirmation and corroboration of casualties, the injured and the internally displaced survivors by official government sources, on-the-ground witnesses, independent first responders and partners of our organisation, The Movement Nigeria, who we despatched to the affected areas. 

TMN's painstaking investigation was to enable one have a balanced, objective assessment of the tragedy; the loss of lives suffered and trauma aftermaths of the victims, so that I would convey facts that are accurate in substance and clear in echo to the government of the day, to members of the international community and to global genocide observers who have been constantly in touch with me over the years and since the Sunday dawn massacre on the serial genocidal pogroms against Nigerian citizens of the North Central zone, the Middle Belt states and our country in general.

Subsequent to these measures, I am deeply saddened to inform Nigerians and the international community that contrary to the compressed and minimized casualty figures of 18 which the federal government of Nigeria has shyly admitted, our combined on-the-spot teams and international partners have revealed a far more harrowing tally. This includes more than fifty men, women, infant children and the elderly murdered in cold blood, many severely wounded from sophisticated artillery fire opened on them. As in similar massacres, numerous indigenes have presently fled the affected communities into temporary shelters in surrounding villages after the horrors of seeing their unarmed and defenceless families butchered.

We have also confirmed the excruciating report that among those wiped out by the savage hordes of suspected Fulani militia is a single family of nine who included a two-year old baby.

I and The Movement Nigeria mourn and extend our heartfelt condolences to the survivors and immediate relatives of the dead. We condole with and pray God to grant overcoming strength to the Akpachi and Otukpo-Nobi communities, the Benue and Plateau state frontlines of horrific re-occuring pogroms, and every other part of Nigeria where the blood of innocent Nigerians has continued to be spilled like sludge, while the indelible aftermaths of these raw, heinous crimes are continuously swept under the carpet by government after government without tangible, accountable and adequately deterrent consequences to the perpetuators. 

The serial, unabating bloodshed by free roaming, lethally armed, increasingly emboldened ethnic militias responsible for these calculated massacres challenge the security, sovereignty, national stability, peace and progress of all of us as a people and nation under one constitution. 

As TMN, our research findings over the years are heart wrenching, to say the least. We bleed and grieve deeply not just because of this latest chapter of bloodbath. Our aggregated sorrow, aggravated by the insincerity, nonchallance and lack of accountability by governments at both federal and state levels, in spite of monumental budgets perennially voted for security, derives from a glaring history of chronic constitutional failure of government to protect the lives of our citizens, their farming occupations and most basic rights to life even at the lowest levels of existence.

For example, some of our studies, which can be verified in the virtual space, show the following. In closely matched studies, the casualty metrics of globally renowned war research organisations, including Mediazona, the Book of Memory Group, the BBC and the US Library of Congress, in under five years between 2016 and 2021 alone, Nigerians who were violently murdered across all gender and age groups were 50,252. These include infants plucked from their mothers' breasts and slaughtered, babies given birth to in terrorists' captivity and fed to the dogs of their captors, octogenarians lined up and shot or burnt alive in their homes, clergy and clerics of both Christian and Muslim faiths, and worshippers rounded up and shot to death right inside churches and mosques by Islamic extremists. These gruesome crimes were committed in 2,288 documented terror attacks and victim executions. 

During the same period another 51,425 Nigerians were murdered in violent crimes such as kidnappings for ransom, robbery, rape, police brutality and other forms of extra-judicial killings. When you combine the above casualties of insecurity in Nigeria, the figure of 101,677 comes to 57 Nigerians who are violently killed everyday. 

In comparison to the above, Ukraine, which has been in a full-blown war with superpower Russia, involving devastating modern weapons of mass destruction, recorded, between 2022 and August 2025, a casualty figure of only 73,920 soldiers and civilians combined. This comes to 54 casualties per day during the height of its ongoing war. The comparison with Nigeria, a country that is not at war yet suffers a casualty of 57 citizens daily, speaks for itself and demonstrates the glaring extent of security failure by government stratas of our country. That is not where the tragedy ends. It is in the fact that about 70% of that gross national massacre figure continues to occur in the North Central and Middle Belt states of Nigeria alone.

A TMN ongoing study also indicates that like the recent Akpachi and Otukpo-Nobi massacres of few days ago, more Nigerians die daily from violent deaths than the cows that are slaughtered for consumption in some cities of some African countries.

Given the above gory spectre of insecurity which pervades every part of our dear country, I wish to passionately appeal to governments of all tiers. Wake up. Forge the political will to live up to your constitutional responsibility of protecting lives and properties a focal priority of governance.

Make the Otukpo killings of last Sunday the last of its kind in any part of our great country. Go after and bring every single one of the militia responsible for the killings to book.

 

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's administration must stop being a government of funeral delegations, ephemeral consolation of genocide victims and empty ceremonial promises of security, and rise to restore Nigeria from being a republic of bloodshed which it is now to one of law, order, peace, opportunity and prosperity. 

Mr. President must re-event his administration into a digital age security machine. One that has the cutting-edge capabilities to bring to book culprits and erase all roving militia murderers, killer herdsmen, ransom bandits, bloodthirsty terrorists and their urban networks who aid them in any corner of Nigeria. 

Nigeria has more than enough resources to achieve this from what is connived, cornered and stolen in only a few government agencies or parastatals and her annual budgets. What is lacking is the political will, sincerity and transparency of the executors of security policies.

Arc. Dr. Peter Agada, 

YPP Presidential Hopeful 2027, 

Global Convener TMN

LABOUR PARTY: FLYING ON BORROWED WINGS

Apagun 

A story was once told of a prideful, deceptive and a subtle tortoise who after loosing out in an animal kingdom decided to compete and complete the kingship rites and rituals in the birds kingdom. Some members of his family questioned his affinity with the birds kingdom and the possibilities of ceding out the kingship to him since he cannot fly. His wife and children reminded him that flying across seven rivers in their known world is part of the ceremonial rites. The tortoise assured his family that he had already settled the kingmakers, and telling his wife that he was called to come for the contest by the eagle because he was denied the right to become the king. Ostrich was equally in support because she couldn't fly across the seven rivers, she decided to give out feathers to support the tortoise together with some dissidents birds for him to complete the kingship rites. Despite the fact that the priests and diviners warned these rebellious birds to allow the Peacock chosen by divinity to become the king, they obstinately stood against the warning by the gods that the rats would not squeak like rats, the birds would not chirp like birds and humans will not speak like humans 

On the day of the completion of the rituals, a sacrifice must be carried by the king to be, so the tortoise begged eagle to carry him on her wings with the sacrifice at dawn to the sacred forest to place the sacrifice in front of the gods. On his way back on the wings of the eagle, sighting the town at a distance and the flocks of birds awaiting his arrival in the village square, he thanked the eagle for her support but begged her to let him be on his own as he had already glued the borrowed wings to his arm and legs to proof that he can fly. Eagle warned him against the decision, but before you can say Jack, he jumped from the eagle's back and cracked in pieces in the midst of the awaiting townsmen.

Politics in Ogun State has always been competitive. But right now, the Labour Party in the state is dealing with a distraction that threatens to drown out real work: a parallel faction built not by grassroots structure, but by a group of transactional politicians looking for shortcuts to relevance through the stroke of pen.

The trouble started when some individuals, who played little or no role in building the party from ward to state level, decided to announce a separate "exco." It was not done through congress. It was not recognized by the national constitution of the Labour Party but by some individuals at the national against the will of the people of Ogun State. It was simply declared, with memo and borrowed logos.

That is the problem. You cannot build legitimacy by photocopying it.

*The constitutional exco*  

The state executive Committee led by *Apagun Olaolu Samuel* emerged through the process laid out in the party constitution. The state congress produced officers with mandates from members on the ground. That is how political parties are supposed to function. Not by WhatsApp declarations, not by borrowing halls for parallel meetings.

This exco has been carrying out the basic work: reconciling members while the supposedly national leaders were outrightly kicking against such without first coming to beg for permission on performing our rights and obligations as Chairman, preparing for elections, and engaging communities on Labour Party ideals. It is not perfect. No new structure is. But it has the one thing the other group does not: a paper trail rooted in the party’s own rules and constitution 

*Why the parallel group exists*  

The second group is not an ideological split. It is a transactional arrangement. In Nigerian politics, we have seen this pattern before. When an election cycle approaches, some actors who could not win internal elections try to create a second center of power. The goal is not to grow the party. The goal is to negotiate. To get recognition. To sell access. To fly on wings that do not belong to them.

Borrowed wings cannot sustain flight. They look good in photos, but they have no roots in the wards, no structure in the LGAs, and no accountability to the members who knocked on doors in 2023. 

*The cost to Ogun Labour Party*  

1. *Confusion*: New members do not know which leadership to approach. That slows down mobilization.

2. *Resources wasted*: Time and money that should go into voter education and candidate grooming are spent fighting for letterheads.

3. *Credibility damaged*: Voters are watching. When a party cannot manage its own house, it becomes hard to ask the public to trust it with the state.

An oral history in the Ifa verses stated _" . . . lo difa fún Ológbò jigolo baba awo, nigba to nṣawo ròde Oyo, won ni eyin agba, é má j'obi to gbo, eyin agba, é má fẹ aya meji ni rogbarogba"_ literally meaning 'as Ologbo Jigolo was divinely instructed in those days, warning that the elders must not be attracted by the matured cola nuts, neither should they be engaged to two wives simultaneously. The instructions are simple, the elders should not take bribe neither should they double date.

*The way forward*  

Parties grow through discipline, not drama. The national leadership of the Labour Party must do three things quickly:

- *Affirm the constitutional exco*: Put it in writing. Circulate it to INEC, to stakeholders, and to the public in Ogun State. Ambiguity is what transactional politicians thrive on.

- *Sanction impersonation*: Anyone parading as an officer outside the constitutional process should be shown the door. Politics cannot reward forgery.

- *Open the door for real reconciliation*: Not for power-sharing with a parallel group, but for members who were genuinely aggrieved during congresses to be heard within the structure led by Apagun Olaolu Samuel.

Ogun Labour Party has a real opportunity. The appetite for alternatives is there. Young voters, artisans, teachers, and traders are looking for a party that speaks to competence and accountability. They will not wait while a few individuals argue over borrowed titles.

You do not build a movement by creating two heads. You build it by strengthening the one head that the constitution recognizes, and then making it work.

Borrowed wings might get you a few meters off the ground. But to fly in 2027, Ogun Labour Party needs its own wings. And right now, those wings are with the legally and constitutionally emerged state exco led by Apagun Olaolu Samuel.

© *Apagun Olaolu Samuel*

Chairman, 

Labour Party Ogun State

egberunsaamu2206@gmail.com